Al-Ma'arri

"Men of acute mind call me an ascetic, but they are wrong in their diagnosis. Although I disciplined my desires, I only abandoned worldly pleasures because the best of these withdrew themselves from me…"

"And I, albeit I come in Time's late hour,Achieve what lay not in the ancients' power."

"Sometimes you may find a man skillful in his trade, perfect in sagacity and in the use of arguments, but when he comes to religion he is found obstinate, so does he follow in the old groove. Piety is …"

"Some worse people than I have entered Paradise! But it is not everybody’s fortune to be granted forgiveness, it is like wealth in the Fleeting World."

"Whenever I reflect, my reflecting upon what I suffer only rouses me to blame him that begot me.And I gave peace to my children, for they are in the bliss of non-existence which surpasses all the pleas…"

"Methink I am thrice-imprisoned—ask not meOf news that need no telling—By loss of sight, confinement in my house,And this vile body for my spirit’s dwelling."

"The holy fights by Moslem heroes fought,The saintly works by Christian hermits wroughtAnd those of Jewry or of Sabian creed—Their valour reaches not the Indian's deedWhom zeal and awe religiously insp…"

"Fear of death pushed Seven Sleepers into a cave,Made Noah and his son build a ship;Nor did Moses and Adam think it pleasant to dieThough they were promised paradise."